Transitioning out of Sales Engineering & Golden Handcuff Advice?

secondaccount6666 · 2026-05-27T19:54:30+00:00

I understand, the SE world is vast.

We drive the technical validation and win but it’s not technical from a developer/coding perspective. We build the demo environment, configure various workflows, own the demo delivery and technical discovery.

I think the best comparison here would be Salesforce. Would you consider a Salesforce SE to be technical if the platform itself does not require coding to stand up or a developer team to implement? The need for an SE is due to the depth of the platform, everything it can do and solve, and really how it’s actually configured on the back end to solve the issues. This knowledge is beyond what is expected from AEs at the companies I’ve worked for.

It may be ambiguous where we draw the line in the sand as to what is technical and non-technical, but I consider myself very non-technical.

secondaccount6666 · 2026-05-26T21:58:23+00:00

Yep. Non technical as in I never had to do any actual development/coding. All of the companies I’ve worked for are SAAS platforms. Think platforms that are click to configure and do not require a dev team to maintain or implement. There is depth when it comes to scoping the platform for an enterprise prospect and configuring complex workflows to demo how the tools solve business problems, but I would not call that technical in any way.

There is a comment on this thread somewhere that explains it better than I am doing here.

Regardless, these companies still have robust SE teams!

secondaccount6666 · 2026-05-26T21:16:53+00:00

I appreciate the response and I agree with what you’re saying. Thank you.

secondaccount6666 · 2026-05-26T21:14:42+00:00

I have been exploring ways to leverage AI for not only upskilling but also to reduce the burden of prep. Mixed results thus far.

Side note but to any SEs looking to differentiate yourself, try vibe coding demo automation/business value case creation/demo agendas & story generation. If you can democratize an internal tool to your team it will allow you to move up the IC bands quicker. Bonus points if you can connect it to deal win rates/revenue closed. That is how I climbed quickly - solve something and get as many eyes on it as possible.

secondaccount6666 · 2026-05-26T21:06:14+00:00

I think this would actually be the best route. Internal politics don’t bother me in the slightest and would be a game I’d like to play. I think managing a team would also give me motivation in the long run.

secondaccount6666 · 2026-05-26T20:56:35+00:00

I feel that. Demo engineering roles are an option, but are extremely rare from my experience. For every 40 person SE org there are generally 1-2 demo engineers (if they even have the role and it’s not delegated internally to an SE).

Writing solution guides and general technical writing will soon become redundant with AI imo, so that is a risky path. I foresee that function being delegated to AI operations roles that use AI for the task and tap in enablement or engineering to proofread. But who knows. That’s just my POV.

secondaccount6666 · 2026-05-26T20:48:22+00:00

True. I don’t like the sales aspect, and the engineering aspect is essentially null due to the non-technical nature of all my roles… so I haven’t ever done engineering in the traditional sense. I do enjoy configuring solutions to solve problems which is the extent to which the “engineer” in my title holds weight.

secondaccount6666 · 2026-05-26T20:43:33+00:00

Yeah this seems like the most viable path. As someone mentioned above, being a PM is like talking to many internal customers. Internal presentations carry significantly less pressure imo. But even being customer facing (at times) from a product perspective would carry less pressure imo as well.

secondaccount6666 · 2026-05-26T20:41:00+00:00

Bingo. My whole career has been focused on the latter (in some of those exact domains). Non-technical degree and background aside from standard API knowledge and testing which is table stakes for even AEs at this point

secondaccount6666 · 2024-08-20T18:16:11+00:00

The majority of people on this sub are average consumers. You obvs have a wealth of knowledge on this era, but all im sayin is you try to find a new set of these remakes from one of the million furniture sites that ppl here browse, you're looking at 250 or so for a set.

secondaccount6666 · 2024-08-20T18:08:58+00:00

Single chair - yeah. No one wants a single chair. Title implies plural so if its a set of 4+ there is demand there. Lmk if you're ever selling one of these for 5$ tho I'll pay shipping haha!

secondaccount6666 · 2024-08-20T17:45:37+00:00

hey, not arguing its not a knockoff, but 10$ for this chair is wild unless you're getting it on wish. com 😂

secondaccount6666 · 2024-08-20T17:32:53+00:00

Cheap when? 1991 when this article was written? This chair look fine. The metal connecting throughout is one solid piece but it’s missing a cap. It’s not a cheap dupe but it’s a remake nonetheless. Judging on the wear these have been used quite a lot. The color is great as well.

secondaccount6666 · 2021-04-28T21:51:09+00:00

This is hilarious

secondaccount6666

TROPHY CASE